An anonymous reader writes: RTS Total Annihilation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_annihilation) was released in 1997 and 7 years later was still winning awards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_annihilation#Awards). Now, the team that built both TA and its successor, Supreme Commander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Commander_%28game%29), wants to build a modern RTS in the same vein with your help via KickStarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts). Here's some raw meat to get the/. crowd excited: Linux support at launch and DRM-free (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts/posts, buried).

cylonlover writes: Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) have achieved a laser shot which boggles the mind: 192 beams delivered an excess of 500 trillion-watts (TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to a target of just two millimeters in diameter. To put those numbers into perspective, 500 TW is more than one thousand times the power that the entire United States uses at any instant in time. Pew-Pew indeed...

coondoggie writes: "While high-levels of solar activity is not good news for satellites, GPS and electronics they can have one benefit: such massive solar bursts can decrease the amounts of dangerous orbital debris. In fact the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office today said the increase in solar activity over the past year actually decreased the number of cataloged debris in Earth orbit during 2011. This increase in the Sun's activity, known as the solar maximum is expected to peak next year."

judgecorp writes: "Silver-based compounds dissolved in ammonia, could make finer and more flexible circuits, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. Existing inkjet based circuit printing systems use particles which are less predictable. The silver-based ink remains dissolved until the ammonia evaporates, and can be delivered through 100nm nozzles. In all senses, it's a better solution."